


and every word you say, say something sweet

by doctorkaitlyn



Category: Buzzfeed: Worth It (Web Series)
Genre: Eating Your Feed, Episode Related, Established Relationship, Fluff, Light Angst, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 15:49:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14957531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorkaitlyn/pseuds/doctorkaitlyn
Summary: “How long are you here for?”“A week. Got a few things to work on while I’m here, but otherwise, I’m all yours.” Andrew makes a quiet sound, something like a pleased hum, and presses another quick kiss to Steven’s lips.“That means you’ll be here to taste-test the finished product,” he says. After a moment of hesitation, he adds, “Right?”(or, after he moves to New York, Steven comes back to surprise Andrew on the set of Eating Your Feed.)





	and every word you say, say something sweet

**Author's Note:**

> there were approximately five other projects I could have worked on this weekend, but the [newest episode of Eating Your Feed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6enIZ2qxEo) gave me feelings, and all these angsty long-distance fics have been bumming me out, so here's something fluffy and (mostly) happy! the timeline is probably wonky but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> title from [I'm Ready](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx7LZxpUS50) by Jack's Mannequin.

Sneaking into Tasty headquarters without drawing any attention to himself turns out to be considerably harder than Steven expected.

When he’d been thinking about it on the flight in, it had seemed like a mostly foolproof plan. He’d spent enough time in the building over the years that, unless they’d done some major renovations in his time away (which wasn’t entirely outside the realm of possibility; it definitely wouldn’t be the first time that the powers that be had decided to change the whole layout of a building over a weekend), slipping inside and avoiding everyone should have been easy enough.

But, in retrospect, he’s pretty sure that his sureness was mainly caused by lack of sleep, because almost as soon as he steps through the front door of the building, having collected his visitor’s badge and a hug from Jen at the main entrance to the BuzzFeed compound, he’s spotted by Niki, Patrick, and Garrett in quick succession. After pulling him into a massive group-hug, they immediately start to ask, _very loudly_ , what he’s doing at the studio, how long he’s going to be in town, how he’s adjusting to New York. Before he can begin to answer any one of those questions, let alone all of them, Niki’s eyes abruptly light up. 

“Wait, do Andrew and Adam know you’re here? Want me to-”

“No!” he interrupts loudly, which earns him a scattering of annoyed looks from the people still working away at their desks. After glancing around to make sure that his outburst hasn’t attracted any more of his friends, he continues, “Adam knows I’m coming, but Andrew has _no_ idea.”

“ _Oh_ ,” all three of them say in sync, which is equal parts hilarious and creepy. 

“Well, go get ‘em tiger,” Garrett says, clapping a hand on Steven’s shoulder hard enough to rock him back onto his heels before he wanders off towards the exit. Niki flashes Steven a thumbs-up and follows after Garrett, and Patrick loosely drapes his arm around Steven’s shoulders and starts pulling him further into the building.

“C’mon, I’ll take you over to the studio.”

They make it to the door leading into the studio without further incident, and Patrick heads off with a last comment about them needing to grab lunch while Steven is town. However, just as Steven reaches for the door handle, it twists open, and Rie steps out into the hallway. In mid-step, her eyes catch with Steven’s, and she pauses for a moment before her puzzlement gives away to a bright smile.

“It’s so good to see you!” she says quietly, pulling him into a hug after she’s closed the door with a click.

“Good to see you too.” He squeezes her tightly before he takes a step back and glances at the closed door. “Should I wait until they’re done?”

“No! I’m sure they won’t mind. I’ll be back in a little bit.” As her footsteps fade down the hallway, Steven takes a deep breath and tries to dampen the storm of nerves swirling in his stomach. There’s no real reason for him to be nervous; if the reaction of everyone else is any indication, he’s going to be welcomed back with open arms by his friends, by Andrew.

But still, there’s a little voice in the back of his head that is worried that perhaps things have changed over the last month and a half. Maybe, even though they talked less than twenty-four hours ago, even though Andrew ended the conversation by saying _I love you_ with nothing less than absolute conviction, Andrew feels differently now and has just done a really good job of hiding it up to this point.

Maybe, if Steven had managed to sneak in successfully, without alerting seemingly every one of his friends to his presence, he’d think about sneaking back out and taking a few minutes to recuperate and muster up some courage. As is, he’s pretty sure that if he doesn’t move into the studio soon, someone else is going to stumble upon him and ruin the last shred of surprise that he’s managed to cling onto. 

It’s now or never.

Twisting the doorknob, which is clammy from the sweat on his palm, he steps quietly into the studio and closes the door soundlessly behind him. None of the crew glance over at him, too distracted by what’s unfolding at the kitchen counter, and he takes a few steps away from the door, still remaining well within the dark part of the cavernous room, so that he can get a better look.

There’s a massive wheel of cheese resting on the counter, and Andrew is leaning over it and holding what looks like a meat mallet and a knife. After pressing the tip of the knife against the outside of the cheese, he smacks the end of the handle with the mallet. The knife scores along the outside of the cheese, but the blade doesn’t actually sink in, and Andrew groans loudly and casually tosses the knife behind him, where it lands on the other counter.

“Jesus, what is this, Fort Knox?” he asks with a laugh, brushing his hair away from his forehead, so utterly handsome that Steven’s heart momentarily skips a beat. “We’re gonna need a bigger knife.” 

“Just put your back into it!”

Steven was kind of hoping to wait a little longer to reveal his presence, but apparently his sleep-deprived brain has other plans. 

However, after seeing the reaction his words elicits, he can’t bring himself to regret the outburst. 

Andrew’s head immediately snaps up, and the mallet drops to the counter with a loud clang. His eyes go wide, and a gorgeous smile unfurls on his mouth, brightens up his entire face like he’s swallowed the sun whole.

“You’re early,” Adam comments, lowering his camera with a smile of his own and turning towards Steven. Steven shrugs and comes closer; there’s not much point in remaining in the darkness, now that the cat has been let out of the bag.

“Traffic was surprisingly not horrible.” Andrew swivels his head around to look at Adam, whose grin just grows larger.

“You knew?”

“Of course I knew,” Adam answers, sounding slightly offended that Andrew would even ask that question. “It was my idea.” Andrew glances back and forth between them a few times before he comes around the counter and starts walking towards Steven. There’s only a few yards between them, space that Andrew could easily cross in a few seconds, but Steven can’t wait that long, so he meets Andrew in the middle. Andrew pulls him into a hug that’s tight enough to make his breath catch, and Steven returns it in kind, buries his face into Andrew’s neck and breathes in deeply, surrounds himself with the familiar, intertwined scents of Andrew’s cologne and shampoo. 

“Hi,” he mumbles against Andrew’s throat, and he doesn’t miss the slight shiver that travels through Andrew’s body as he pulls back, just an inch or so, and twists his head to kiss Steven’s temple.

“Hey.” His smile seems to make the lighter flecks in his eyes even brighter than usual. “So Adam told you what we’re doing here today?”

“Yeah,” Steven says, tightening his fingers in the back of Andrew’s sweater and resisting the urge to slip his hands underneath and run his fingertips over Andrew’s warm skin. “Obviously I had to come watch. See if it compares to the one from Le Petit Paris.” 

“Well, now I have performance anxiety,” Andrew says, momentarily glancing back over his shoulder at where the monstrous wheel of cheese is taking up the counter. “Although, we might not actually get that far, if we can’t crack that cheese open.”

“I told you, you just need to put your back into it,” Steven teases, poking Andrew in the dip of his spine for emphasis. Andrew rolls his eyes before he leans in for a kiss that’s as soft and sweet as a wisp of cotton candy, a kiss that Steven wants to sink into and live in forever. When he pulls back, Andrew bumps their noses together once and lets out a slightly shaky breath.

“How long are you here for?”

“A week. Got a few things to work on while I’m here, but otherwise, I’m all yours.” Andrew makes a quiet sound, something like a pleased hum, and presses another quick kiss to Steven’s lips.

“That means you’ll be here to taste-test the finished product,” he says. After a moment of hesitation, he adds, “Right?”

A tiny part of Steven’s heart crumples at the uncertainty in Andrew’s voice, and he wants nothing more than to go back to Andrew’s apartment and kiss him until they’ve made up for all the time they’ve lost, wants to erase all the space that the last month and a half has put between them.

Instead, he simply nods and kisses Andrew’s cheek before he gives him a gentle push back towards the counter.

“Don’t worry,” he answers. “I’ll be here. I promise.” 

It’s a promise that he keeps. He brings his laptop with him so that he can get some work done and establishes himself in a chair at the back of the studio, where he’s well out of the way but has a direct line of sight to the action. He watches all of Andrew’s attempt to flambé, adds _Andrew playing with fire_ to the list of things that he is officially very much into and, when one particular attempt singes Andrew’s fingers, Steven kisses the newly hairless patches of skin while Andrew absently runs his other hand through Steven’s hair.

The next day, when Andrew finally nails it and gets to bask in the praise of their co-workers, Steven hangs back and simply watches with a smile on his face. Part of him wants to be right up there telling Andrew that he’s amazing, but it’s not his place. This isn’t his project. 

Afterwards, once the crowd has dissipated and filming has finished up, Andrew comes over with a plate and fork. His cheeks are a little flushed from being underneath the lights, and he looks so _happy_ that, momentarily, Steven is overwhelmed by the fact that in only a few days, he’s going to have to leave this behind again.

He shoves that thought away, closes his laptop and leans over to place it on the floor. He’s not going to let the few days they have together be ruined by self-pity and sadness.

“Saved you the last bite,” Andrew says, coming to a stop in front of Steven and stabbing the last few noodles onto the fork. Steven doesn’t bother reaching for the fork or plate; instead, he slides forward to the edge of his seat and opens his mouth so that Andrew can feed him the bite.

Based on everyone’s reactions, he’s expecting it to be delicious (Rie said as much, and if there’s anyone whose taste he trusts, it’s hers), and his expectations are absolutely met. It’s perfectly creamy and cheesy, and the cognac deepens the flavor of the whole dish without being overwhelming. He’s pretty sure that he moans a little too loud, but he can’t help himself; it’s been a long time since he first had the dish, back in the days when his crush on Andrew was quiet and easy enough to ignore (most of the time, at least), but based on his memories, he’s pretty sure that it’s at least on par with the one from Le Petit Paris.

Maybe even a little better, solely because of who cooked it.

“Oh my God,” he says, sighing contently as Andrew sets the plate down on the floor beside his laptop. “That was amazing.”

“Worth coming home for?” Andrew asks, reaching forward and wiping a spot of sauce off the corner of Steven’s mouth with his thumb.

Somehow, Steven’s heart both expands and cracks at the same time, and before he can do something stupid like blurt out how much he misses Andrew, how New York is great and beautiful but feels cold and empty even on the sunniest days, he wraps his arms around Andrew’s waist and leans forward to bury his face against Andrew’s broad chest.

“Yeah,” he murmurs, closing his eyes and sighing as one of Andrew’s hands curls around the nape of his neck. “Definitely worth it.”

**Author's Note:**

> as always, I can be found on [tumblr.](http://banshee-cheekbones.tumblr.com/) :)


End file.
